Obama lets the jobless sue for discrimination

The Obama administration has been cheered on by advocates for the unemployed people of America to ban discrimination against the jobless. Photo courtesy of Google images

The Obama administration has been cheered on by advocates for the unemployed people of America to ban discrimination against the jobless. But many businesses and their partners are calling this effort unnecessary and counterproductive. This push is included in the job creation bill Obama sent to Congress earlier this month. It allows job applicants that are denied the job to sue the company if they think they were denied the job because they are unemployed.

Obama said recently that discrimination against the unemployed makes “absolutely no sense,” especially because many people find themselves out of work through no fault of their own. Advocates for companies and employers oppose this proposed ban. Michael Eastman of the Chamber of Commerce told The New York Times, “We do not see a need for it.” However, Lawrence Lorber, a labor law specialist who represents employers, told the paper the President’s proposal “opens another avenue of employment litigation and nuisance lawsuits.”

To push into this growing issue even more, a Republican representative from Texas, Louie Gohmert, told the Times that the proposal would send the message of, “If you’re unemployed and you go to apply for a job, and you’re not hired for that job, see a lawyer. You may be able to find a claim because you got discriminated against because you were unemployed.”

This sudden uprising has been characterized by the current high unemployment status, although, there has recently been a relatively low rate of layoffs. There is evidence that when people are out of work for an extended period of time, their skills atrophy. and it becomes increasingly difficult for them to find new work. This is the reason that many think it is not unreasonable for some unemployed citizens to be denied a job, depending on the duration of their unemployment.